Producer Carrie Rickey, formerly the Philadelphia Inquirer’s notable film critic, co-producer Jon Kohl, and executive producer Sam Katz visit Drexel University for the screening and discussion of their new documentary, Before Hollywood: Philadelphia and the Birth of the Movies, on Thursday, April 5 in the URBN Annex Screening Room at 6:30 pm.

Following the screening, Rickey, Kohl and Katz will discuss the documentary and Philadelphia’s largely unknown contributions to American filmmaking.Before Hollywood: Philadelphia and the Birth of the Movies is the untold story of the Philadelphia inventors, entrepreneurs and promoters who helped to give birth to the motion picture industry. From the time of the American Revolution, when portrait painter Charles Willson Peale longed to exhibit a more dynamic and entertaining means to reflect pictures in motion, Philadelphia has fostered numerous engineers and inventors whose innovations brought us closer to movies. Before Hollywood takes us through the Industrial Revolution to early photography, the development of celluloid, and even the very first “selfie,” in its exploration of Philadelphia’s unique place in the history of the medium.

Public Screening & Lecture:
Thurs. April 5 // 6:30PM // URBN Annex Screening Room // Free & open to the public